PURPOSES/AIMS:This paper examines the impact of unionization on nurse wages in hospitals. BACKGROUND:Of 2.4 million registered nurses employed in the United States in 2006, unions represented about 21 percent. Membership in nursing unions in the United States has grown 18 percent in less than three years and more than 80 percent since 1983. In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of studies found that hospital unions increased the wages and fringe benefits of workers represented by the unions, and there was a corresponding increase in total hospital costs. METHODS:We use a unique dataset from California, which merges data collected from all hospitals in the state about their unions with Annual Hospital Disclosure Reports data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. We estimate multivariate regression equations to learn whether unions have a statistically significant effect on hospital wages. Explanatory variables include patient acuity, service mix, profit status, system affiliation, HMO penetration, market concentration measured with a Herfindahl index, and other market conditions. We allow for both direct and indirect effects (i.e., union threat effects) of unions by considering whether nearby hospitals are unionized. RESULTS:Unionized hospitals pay higher wages, and that some union threat effect exists. Unions also appear to counteract the effect of system affiliation of hospitals. Hospitals in multihospital systems tend to have lower wages than non-system hospitals, at least in the 1990s, and unions mitigate this effect. CONCLUSIONS:Unions have important impacts on wages. As hospital unions become more influential in hospital operations and in national policymaking, it is important that we understand how they are likely to affect the landscape of health care in the nation.

Full metadata record

DC Field

Value

Language

dc.type

Presentation

en_GB

dc.title

THE EFFECT OF HOSPITAL UNIONS ON NURSE WAGES

en_GB

dc.identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10755/157367

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dc.description.abstract

<table><tr><td colspan="2" class="item-title">THE EFFECT OF HOSPITAL UNIONS ON NURSE WAGES</td></tr><tr class="item-sponsor"><td class="label">Conference Sponsor:</td><td class="value">Western Institute of Nursing</td></tr><tr class="item-year"><td class="label">Conference Year:</td><td class="value">2010</td></tr><tr class="item-author"><td class="label">Author:</td><td class="value">Spetz, Joanne, Ph.D.</td></tr><tr class="item-institute"><td class="label">P.I. Institution Name:</td><td class="value">University of California San Francisco</td></tr><tr class="item-author-title"><td class="label">Title:</td><td class="value">Professor</td></tr><tr class="item-address"><td class="label">Contact Address:</td><td class="value">3333 California Street, Suite 410, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA</td></tr><tr class="item-email"><td class="label">Email:</td><td class="value">jojo@thecenter.ucsf.edu</td></tr><tr class="item-co-authors"><td class="label">Co-Authors:</td><td class="value">Jean Ann Seago; Michael Ash</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="item-abstract">PURPOSES/AIMS:<br/>This paper examines the impact of unionization on nurse wages in hospitals.<br/> BACKGROUND:<br/>Of 2.4 million registered nurses employed in the United States in 2006, unions represented about 21 percent. Membership in nursing unions in the United States has grown 18 percent in less than three years and more than 80 percent since 1983. In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of studies found that hospital unions increased the wages and fringe benefits of workers represented by the unions, and there was a corresponding increase in total hospital costs. <br/> METHODS:<br/>We use a unique dataset from California, which merges data collected from all hospitals in the state about their unions with Annual Hospital Disclosure Reports data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. We estimate multivariate regression equations to learn whether unions have a statistically significant effect on hospital wages. Explanatory variables include patient acuity, service mix, profit status, system affiliation, HMO penetration, market concentration measured with a Herfindahl index, and other market conditions. We allow for both direct and indirect effects (i.e., union threat effects) of unions by considering whether nearby hospitals are unionized. <br/> RESULTS:<br/>Unionized hospitals pay higher wages, and that some union threat effect exists. Unions also appear to counteract the effect of system affiliation of hospitals. Hospitals in multihospital systems tend to have lower wages than non-system hospitals, at least in the 1990s, and unions mitigate this effect.<br/> CONCLUSIONS:<br/>Unions have important impacts on wages. As hospital unions become more influential in hospital operations and in national policymaking, it is important that we understand how they are likely to affect the landscape of health care in the nation. <br/></td></tr></table>

en_GB

dc.date.available

2011-10-26T19:48:30Z

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dc.date.issued

2011-10-17

en_GB

dc.date.accessioned

2011-10-26T19:48:30Z

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dc.description.sponsorship

Western Institute of Nursing

en_GB

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